Dubai, United Arab Emirates
I am an accomplished and impactful senior commercial executive with a wealth of international experience working with global leaders in hospitality, and a proven track record of leading strategic initiatives that drive commercial performance and accelerate growth. I am a business builder, developing forward-thinking ideas and programs that generate revenue and profit, motivate highly successful teams and build guest engagement. I am passionate about building connections and productive collaboration across functions to empower commercial success. I instil and deliver high standards and develop effective relationships to coach, energise, influence and lead across teams, geographies and cultures. My career journey to date spans 8 countries on 3 continents, and has taken in corporate roles, regional teams and on-property positions. A few highlights: ✔ As Vice President Revenue Optimisation for Shangri-La Group, I co-led a strategic business transformation project centred around Customer Lifetime Value with workstreams on business mix optimisation, digital marketing, Shangri-La Circle loyalty program relaunch and guest service excellence. ✔ As Hilton Worldwide’s Commercial Director for Luxury & Lifestyle in Asia Pacific, I substantially lifted performance across operating hotels while guiding highly successful property openings and conversions of Conrad, Waldorf Astoria and Canopy branded hotels in Bora Bora, Thailand, China and the Maldives. ✔ Captured significant cumulative share gains as Hilton Worldwide’s Director for Revenue Management in North China. Successfully grew the regional portfolio from 11 operating hotels to 30 properties across 5 brands in 4 years. ✔ As Hilton Singapore’s Director of Business Development, turned around this declining property’s performance by introducing fundamental changes that boosted annual revenue and consistently achieved RevPAR Growth Index results. My areas of expertise include: ☆ Strategic Planning and Execution ☆ Commercial Leadership ☆ Team and Talent Development ☆ Sales and Distribution ☆ Revenue Management ☆ Marketing ☆ Data Analytics and Insights ☆ Customer Experience ☆ Brand Management ☆ Project Management ☆ Senior Stakeholder Management ☆ Cross-functional Collaboration
Appointed as part of Kempinski’s new commercial leadership team to architect and lead a global transformation of the company’s revenue, distribution, and commercial performance strategy across 80+ luxury hotels and residences in 34 countries. Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer, I oversee the full revenue ecosystem including Revenue Management, Pricing, Distribution and Commercial Analytics, — with a mandate to modernize the organisation, elevate commercial excellence, and drive sustainable topline growth. = Focus Areas = • Global Revenue Strategy: Building a multi year commercial roadmap and scalable frameworks to elevate commercial performance across all markets. Defining omnichannel optimization to enhance conversion and profitability. • Data Transformation: Driving data centralization and advanced analytics adoption, supported by the next generation of business intelligence infrastructure. • Leadership: Establishing and leading a new Dubai based global Revenue Management team and aligning commercial priorities across regions, asset managers, and executive stakeholders. • Agile Execution: Balancing long term strategic planning with hands on operational leadership to accelerate commercial impact.
Relocated to the Netherlands after more than 20 years abroad. Took intentional time to reconnect with family, renovate a 100-year old house to become our permanent family home, and travel, before returning to a senior leadership role.
Global corporate leadership role providing commercial direction to regional teams and hotels through strategic initiatives; building commercial structure, developing a high-performance culture, and driving winning performance. Elevated in 2020 to report directly to C-suite during restructure in response to challenging business conditions. = Strategic Initiatives = Co-lead strategic business transformation project centred around Customer Lifetime Value with workstreams on business mix optimisation, digital marketing, Shangri-La Circle loyalty program relaunch and guest service excellence. = Building Commercial Structure = Business owner and subject matter expert for development of new in-house performance data and business analytics platform empowering critical business insights in uncertain times. Built approved business case for upgrade of critical commercial systems infrastructure including RMS. = Developing a High-Performance Culture = Key driver of the annual business planning cycle for the global hotel portfolio. Transitioned process from top-down target setting to bottom-up approach, creating ownership and clear accountability for regions and properties. Established core learning pathways for the revenue optimisation community to strengthen talent development. = Driving Winning Performance = Established global pricing and promotions framework, set standards for key campaign metrics and ROI reporting. Business owner of industry-leading digital customer journey enhancements including attribute-based selling and pre-stay personalisation options to substantially lift top line rooms revenue.
Set strategic commercial direction for the fast-expanding Luxury & Lifestyle portfolio of Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Canopy by Hilton and LXR brands with annual revenue of $500M from 25 operating properties in 10 countries across Asia Pacific. Lead collaboration across commercial organisation to define positioning, generate demand and maximise the portfolio’s total revenue, profit and market share. • Substantially increased portfolio RevPAR Index, delivering millions of dollars in market share impact. • More than doubled revenue from luxury consortia programs such as Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, Travel Leaders Select and Virtuoso within the first 12 months. • Played key role in successful property openings and conversions such as Conrad Bengaluru, Conrad Bora Bora Nui, Waldorf Astoria Bangkok, and the upcoming Canopy by Hilton Chengdu City Centre and Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi.
Maximised total hotel revenue and profitability of $380M per annum, 30-property portfolio in a rapidly growing region. Led development, evaluation and implementation of commercial strategy to deliver competitive advantage for both properties and the region. Guided and partnered with Senior Vice President Operations, regional directors and property General Managers in setting and achieving annual revenue budgets and financial KPIs. • Tripled the North China portfolio from 11 operating hotels to 30+ properties across 5 brands. • Drove cumulative share gains of $20M through superior market performance. • Built a culture of commercial focus and performance accountability in partnership with regional specialists and property GMs and commercial teams; growing a pool of promotion-ready talent to support rapid expansion.
Challenged to turn around the long-declining commercial performance of one of Hilton Worldwide’s flagship properties in Asia Pacific; successfully delivered. • Revitalized the positioning of the property delivering $60M+ in annual revenue and consistently achieving positive RevPAR Index results. • Restructured the corporate business, mitigating risk and growing rates by diversifying sources of businesses and strategically moving away from large volume accounts. • Realigned Sales team to more effectively support clients with the evolving business mix. • Significantly reduced turnover and facilitated commercial team members’ internal promotions to key positions by 1:1 mentoring and structured individual learning plans.